1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of repairing a vehicle body, and more particularly to a method of repairing the damage of the outside plate panel of a vehicle such as a motor vehicle and a method of calculating the amount of a repair work.
Further, the present invention relates to a tool to be used for the repair work of a vehicle, and more particularly, to a tool employed when the damage of the outside plate panel of a vehicle is repaired.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to repair dents on the outside plate panel of a vehicle such as a motor vehicle, there is conventionally known a vehicle repairing method in which the panel is struck out for repair from the back side of a damaged part by a hammer or the like, or a vehicle repair work in which steel washers or pins are electrically welded to the surface of a damaged part and the washers or pins welded to the surface are pulled out using a tool so as to repair the panel.
For example, according to the method of repairing the vehicle by pulling out the washers or pins, after the coat film of the damaged part is stripped, many washers are electrically welded to the surface of the damaged part by a washer welding machine, and a hook at the end of a slide hammer is engaged with the washers welded to the surface of the damaged part so that the panel of the part to which the washers are welded is pulled out or drawn out under the impact force of the slide hammer.
However, according to the above described method of pulling out washers, a part to be pulled out, in other words, a place to which the washers are welded has been set on the basis of the experience of an operator. Therefore, the place to which the washers are welded and the number of washers to be welded for the same damage have been different between operators because of the difference in experience of the operators. As described above, it has been difficult for all operators to desirably set a place to be pulled out which is most suitable for a repair work. Particularly, it has been very difficult for an operator having little experience to set a position to be pulled out, and hence the number of welded washers has been apt to be excessively increased, resulting in increase of a work time.
Further, according to an ordinary panel pulling out process for a repair, the central part of a dent in a damaged part which is most badly recessed is first pulled out, and then, the remaining part or the edge part of the dent is pulled out to repair a panel. However, if the central part of the dent is first pulled out, the central part may possibly swell or expand when the edge part of the dent is pulled out later. This phenomenon occurs because of a fact that the previous panel pulling work at the central part of the damaged part is excessively carried out. Generally, it has been very hard to adjust the panel pulling-out work in the central part of the damaged part. Consequently, the repair work has been undesirably increased.
Further, as a pretreatment of the panel pulling-out work, the coat film of a damaged part needs to be stripped therefrom. The stripping work of the coat film is liable to be carried out within a wider area. Since, in the case where it is decided that the stripping work of the coat film needs to be further carried out once the stripping work of the coat film is finished to shift to a subsequent panel pulling-out work, it is extremely troublesome to return to the stripping work of the coat film, the stripping work of the coat film is carried out in a wider area. However, when the coat film is stripped within a wider area, it disadvantageously takes time more than necessary for a coat film stripping work itself. In addition, a restoring material such as a putty or a paint and repairing time must be consumed in order to restore the surface of the panel from which the coat film is stripped.
As described above, upon repair of a damaged part, a work area, the amount of materials to be used and work time, which is required to repair the same damage, will be different depending on the operators. Therefore, it has been hitherto impossible to previously calculate a detailed amount of work such as a work area or work time or the like.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a repairing method and a repairing tool liable to repair the damaged part of the outside plate panel of a vehicle in a short time. Further, it is another object of the present invention to provide a repairing method and a repairing tool by which even an operator having little experience can readily and assuredly repair the damaged part of the outside plate panel of a vehicle.
Further, it is another object of the present invention to provide a repairing method and a repairing tool by which the damaged part of the outside plate panel of a vehicle can be repaired at low cost.
Furthermore, it is still another object of the present invention to provide a calculating method of previously calculating the amount of work necessary for a repair work of the damaged part of the outside panel of a vehicle.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, the above described objects can be achieved by providing a method of repairing the damage of a panel of a vehicle body comprising the steps of: (a) marking points at a damaged part of the panel, which are distributed in a range from the central part to the outer edge parts of the damaged part; and (b) pulling out the panel at the marked points successively from the outer points to the inner points of the points.
Each of a plurality of points belongs to any of a plurality of areas extending stepwise from the central part to the outer edge parts of the damaged part in the step (a) and, after the panel is pulled out at the respective points of the outer areas, the panel can be pulled out in the respective points of the inner areas in the step (b).
Further, each of a plurality of points can be located within a prescribed distance from the boundary of the respective areas in the step (a)
Further, the points can be divided into first points essentially requiring a pulling-out work and second points requiring a supplementary pulling-work in the step (a).
Still further, the method further comprises, between the steps (a) and (b), a step (c) of stripping a coat film located within a range surrounded by an outer peripheral line for connecting the outermost points together.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the above described objects can be achieved by providing a method of repairing the damage of a panel of a vehicle body comprising the steps of: (a) marking points at a damaged part of the panel, ranging from the deepest part to the shallowest part of the damaged part of the panel; and (b) pulling out the panel at the points successively from the shallowest point to the deepest point of a plurality of points.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the above mentioned object can be attained by providing a method of calculating the amount of a repair work of a vehicle body in which time necessary for a repair work of a vehicle body is calculated, the method comprising the steps of: (a) marking pulling-out points of a damaged part at prescribed intervals in the damaged part of the panel of the vehicle body; (b) counting the number of points marked in the step (a); and (c) calculating time necessary for a repair work in the damaged part by multiplying the points counted in said step (b) by prescribed time.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the above described object can be realized by providing a method of calculating the amount of a repair work of a vehicle body in which a work area for repairing the vehicle body is calculated, the method comprising the steps of: (a) marking pulling-out points of a damaged part at prescribed intervals in the damaged part of a panel; a step (b) of calculating the points marked in the step (a); and (c) calculating the work area for the repair work in the damaged part of the vehicle body by multiplying the points calculated in the step (b) by a prescribed area.
Further, according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the above described objects can be achieved by providing a sheet for repairing the damage of a panel of a vehicle comprising: points distributed by providing a central part as an origin or a cardinal point; and area display parts for dividing stepwise the respective points into a plurality of areas from the central part toward outer parts, wherein the respective points indicate pulling-out work positions and the respective areas divided by the area display parts indicate the sequence of pulling-out works.
In the fifth aspect of the present invention, each point can be located within a prescribed distance from the boundary of the respective areas. Besides, each boundary can be formed by a broken line.
Further, the sheet is made of a transparent or translucent material.
Still further, the sheet of the present invention is provided with fixing means for fixing the sheet to the panel of a vehicle body.
According to the present invention, when the points are marked on the damaged part of a vehicle body, the following manner may be carried out by way of example. 1. the points are previously printed on a transparent or a translucent sheet, and the sheet having the points marked thereon is stuck to the damaged part of the vehicle body, so that the points can be marked. In this case, when the sheet is fixed to the damaged part of the vehicle body, the sheet may be stuck to the vehicle body by an adhesive agent, or a magnet may be used to sandwich the sheet between the magnet and the vehicle body.
Otherwise, 2. a sheet on which the points are punched out is prepared, and a paint (for instance, spray painting) is applied to the surface of the sheet while the above described sheet abuts on the damaged part, so that the points can be marked on the damaged part. Further, 3. a light may be irradiated to a part on which the points of the damaged part are to be marked, so that the points can be marked on the damaged part.
As for the point marks in the case of the above described 1, a thin sheet can be employed. This sheet includes points or boundaries of areas which are printed on a transparent sheet made of a synthetic. Specifically, on the sheet, four areas which extend radially from the central part as an origin can be formed. The four areas include, from the outside, a first area located between a first boundary (a circumferential line) and a second boundary, a second area located between the second boundary and a third boundary, a third area between the third boundary and a fourth boundary and a fourth area located inside the fourth boundary. The above described boundaries may be formed with concentric circles having the central point, respectively.
While many points are printed in the respective areas, these points can be classified into two kinds of points, i.e., first points and second points. The first points are located within a first prescribed distance (for instance, 5 mm) inside from each boundary, and the second points are located within a second prescribed distance (for instance, 20 mm) inside from each boundary.
The first points can be arranged at regular intervals (for instance, intervals of 15 mm in a straight line therebetween in the circumferential direction. Further, the second points may be arranged at regular intervals (for instance, intervals of 25 mm in a straight line) therebetween in the circumferential direction, which are slightly larger than those between the first points.
The first points indicate points at which an operator must carry out a pulling-out work, and the second points indicate points at which the operator may selectively carry out a pulling-out work in accordance with the progress of the pulling work.
Further, on the sheet are displayed four corner parts within each corresponding boundary. Then, the reach inside the four first corner parts corresponding to the first boundary can be set to designate, for example, 4 dm2 (1 dm2=10 cmxc3x9710 cm). The reach inside the four second corner parts corresponding to the second boundary can be set to designate, for instance, 2.25 dm2. The reach inside the four third corner parts corresponding to the third boundary can be set to indicate, for instance, 1 dm2. The reach inside the four fourth corner parts corresponding to the fourth boundary can be set to indicate, for instance, 0.25 dm2.
Further, any thickness of the sheet may be employed without a special limitation; however, it is desired to employ a thinner sheet in view of the feature of a work. As to the quality of a material of the sheet, a plastic film or a cellophane sheet (preferably moisture-proof cellophane) may be preferably employed. A sheet such as wood free paper, medium quality paper, etc. which is formed by blending a chemical pulp and a mechanical pulp together may be utilized. Thus, the respective points or boundaries, etc. are printed on a sheet such as a plastic film to form a sheet.
Further, if there are formed a plurality of areas, any number of areas may be formed.
Therefore, according to the present invention, the damaged part of the outside plate panel of a vehicle can be assuredly repaired in a short time.
Further, even an operator having little experience can readily and effectively repair the damaged part of the outside plate panel of a vehicle.
Still further, the damaged part of the outside plate panel of a vehicle can be repaired at low cost.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, the amount of a repair work for repairing the damaged part of the outside plate panel of a vehicle can be previously calculated.